METRO Manila Development Authority officer-in-charge Thomas Orbos on Tuesday said the suspension of no window hour for private vehicles has expanded.
He added this would be enforced not only on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and Circumferential Road-5 but also in other areas in the National Capital Region, where almost 13 million people live.
“Suspension of window hours expanded to Alabang-Zapote Road, Roxas Boulevard while Mandaluyong has its own [suspension] like Makati,” said Orbos.
In its latest advisory, the MMDA stated that “Starting Oct. 17, the “No Window Hours” for the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) or Number Coding Scheme would be fully implemented along Edsa, C-5, Alabang-Zapote Road, Roxas Boulevard, and in the cities of Mandaluyong, Makati, and Las Piñas, as agreed upon by the Interagency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) and the Metro Manila Council.
A dry run for the the implementation of the traffic scheme will begin today until Friday.
During the dry run, according to Orbos, the traffic enforcers will not issue citation tickets but the violators will be warned.
The government has decided to suspend the window hour from Oct. 17 until January next year in anticipation of a traffic gridlock during the Christmas holidays.
It estimated that 20 percent of vehicles will be reduced on Edsa with the suspension of window hours, saying 20 percent is equivalent to one lane.
But according to MMDA Traffic Discipline Office chief Noemie Recio, historically, the volume of vehicles swells on Edsa by 10 to 15 percent during ber months or the peak buying season.
The window hours refer to the five-hour period when motorists covered by the Number Coding may still pass on the roads without being apprehended.
That period is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., but removing the window hours means the vehicles covered by the scheme may not pass through the said areas from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The government earlier asked mall and business establishment owners and operators to schedule the delivery of their goods during wee hours of the morning to lessen the number of vehicles in the metropolis at daytime as the peak buying months approach.
The I-ACT made the appeal during their meeting with owners and operators of malls and shopping centers at the MMDA central office in Makati City on Friday.
“We asked them to schedule their delivery during wee hours from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. to ease traffic congestion,” said Police Highway Patrol Group director Antonio Gardiola Jr., who is also the chief traffic officer of I-ACT.
The participants in the meeting included representatives from Ayala malls such as Trinoma and Glorietta, Shoe Mart, Robinsons, Centris, Fisher Mall, Star Mall, Eastwood, and Araneta Center, Podium, Shangri-La Plaza, Filinvest, Empire Mall, Walter Mart, and Lander.
The mall owners said they were considering rescheduling the delivery of goods proposed by I-ACT, which set the second meeting Friday this week.
Delivery trucks and container vans loaded with goods, imported items and other saleable merchandise, piled up the streets of Metro Manila, which the government claimed, added to the worsening traffic during the peak buying months.
So far, the mall owners approved there would be no mall sales in the NCR during weekdays beginning Oct. 21 until Jan. 9 next year.
“They agreed no [mall] sale on weekdays. They can open their malls [at] 12:01 a.m. Saturday to Sunday 11: 59 p.m. and they can have their [mall] sale,” said Gardiola.
I-ACT also appealed to the shopping malls to advise authorities of sale events two weeks in advance so the government can come up with corresponding traffic measures and ease the burden of the riding public.
Vehicles, according to Gardiola, will also be banned from lining up in the streets during sales as they are supposed to occupy mall parking spaces.
“So, we inform them already that road network is beyond the commerce of men,” he said.
The mall owners also agreed to adjust their operating hours from the usual 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. beginning Nov. 1.
Orbos, whose agency is also part of I-ACT, said there are 16 malls and shopping centers along Edsa.
“They made mall sales simultaneously without coordination. So, we are asking them [there should be] no sale on Friday, and they should coordinate and seek approval of I-ACT. We are thankful they agreed,” he said.
Orbos added: “What we called that is Family Day Saturday.”
Study showed that shopping malls usually hold sales during payday weekends, reducing vehicle speeds around malls to five kilometers per hour from 20 kph.
MMDA records also showed that traffic volume rises 15 to 20 percent between November and December and that “midnight sales” or extended mall business hours contribute to the worsened traffic in the metropolis during the Yuletide.
The agency is also expecting the traffic volume to increase because of the influx of people and vehicles from various provinces in Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon.
